Richard Sharpe Books in Order: How to read Bernard Cornwell’s series?

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As I was saying, this series was written by Bernard Cornwell. It chronicles the life of Richard Sharpe in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Sharpe was born in poverty. He joined the army to escape jail and climbed the ranks by sheer brutal courage. He knows no other family than the regiment of the 95th Rifles whose green jacket he proudly wears.

Sharpe is a loose cannon described as “brilliant but wayward.” As his adventures progress, he becomes a highly skilled and experienced leader of light troops. He is six feet tall with a tanned and angular face, long black hair, and blue eyes. He also has a deep scar on his right cheek which pulls at his right eye.

How to read the Richard Sharpe Series in Order?

There are two ways to read the Richard Sharpe series. You can follow the publication order or try the chronological order.

Reading the Sharpe Books in Publication Order

1. Sharpe’s Eagle – Captain Richard Sharpe prepares to lead his men against the army of Napoleon at Talavera in what will be the bloodiest battle of the war. After their cowardly loss of the regiment’s colors, the men’s resentment toward the upstart Sharpe turns to treachery, and Sharpe must fight to redeem the honor of his regiment.
2. Sharpe’s Gold – A year after the victory at Talavera, Wellington’s army, outnumbered and bankrupt, is on the verge of collapse. Its only hope lies in a cache of gold hidden in the Portuguese mountains, and the only man capable of stealing it is Captain Richard Sharpe–even if it means turning against his own side.
3. Sharpe’s Company – The year is 1812, and Richard Sharpe has one mission: to thwart Napoleon’s dream of empire. Sharpe and the fighting men of the Light Company must gain control of two fortress cities in Spain if Wellington’s army is to stem the Napoleonic tide.
4. Sharpe’s Sword – An unfinished duel, a midnight murder, and the treachery of a beautiful prostitute lead to the imprisonment of Sharpe. Caught in a web of political intrigue for which his military experience has left him fatally unprepared, Sharpe becomes a fugitive–a man hunted by both ally and enemy alike.

5. Sharpe’s Enemy – A band of renegades led by Sharpe’s vicious enemy, Obadiah Hakeswill, holds a group of British and French women hostage on a strategic mountain pass. Outnumbered and attacked from two sides, Sharpe must hold his ground or die in the attempt.
6. Sharpe’s Honor – An unfinished duel, a midnight murder, and the treachery of a beautiful prostitute lead to the imprisonment of Sharpe. Caught in a web of political intrigue for which his military experience has left him fatally unprepared, Sharpe becomes a fugitive–a man hunted by both ally and enemy alike.
7. Sharpe’s Regiment – Sharpe returns to England and discovers an illegal recruiting ring that sells soldiers like cattle to other divisions. The ringleaders know Sharpe is on their trail, and they try to kill him at every turn. But Sharpe is fighting for his command, and as he moves from the dark slums of London on the highest courts of political power, Sharpe will risk charges of treason and death for a final chance at revenge.
8. Sharpe’s Siege – Sharpe’s mission has seemed simple: capture a small unguarded French coastal fort, cripple Napoleon’s supply lines, and retreat across the sea. But behind the lines, Sharpe’s old enemy, Pierre Ducos, awaits Sharpe’s arrival with a battalion of French soldiers and a vicious commanding general who keeps the scalps of his dead enemies as trophies.

9. Sharpe’s Rifles – It’s 1809, and Napoleon’s army is sweeping across Spain. Lieutenant Richard Sharpe is newly in command of the demoralized, distrustful men of the 95th Rifles. He must lead them to safety–and the only way of escape is a treacherous trek through the enemy-infested mountains of Spain.
10. Sharpe’s Revenge – It is 1814, and the defeat of Napoleon seems imminent. For Richard Sharpe, the battle turns out to be one of the bloodiest of the Peninsula Wars, and he must draw on his last reserves of strength to lead his troops to victory. But before Sharpe can lay down his sword, he must fight a different sort of battle. Accused of stealing Napoleon’s personal treasure, Sharpe escapes from a British military court and embarks on the battle of his life.
11. Sharpe’s Waterloo – With the emperor Napoleon at its head, an enormous French army is marching toward Brussels. The British and their allies are also converging on Brussels–in preparation for a grand society ball. It is up to Richard Sharpe to convince the Prince of Orange to act before it is too late. But Sharpe’s warning cannot stop the tide of battle, and the British suffer heavy losses on the road to Waterloo.
12. Sharpe’s Devil – Five years after the Battle of Waterloo, Sharpe’s peaceful retirement in Normandy is shattered. An old friend, Don Blas Vivar, is missing in Chile, reported dead at rebel hands – a report his wife refuses to believe. She appeals to Sharpe to find out the truth.

13. Sharpe’s Christmas (short story) – Contains two short stories. In the title story Richard Sharpe, commanding the Prince of Wales’s Own Volunteers, finds himself in a high, hard place with an enemy brigade on one side and a desperate force of Frenchmen fleeing their defeat in Spain on the other.The second story, ‘Sharpe’s Ransom‘, is set in France, after the wars, when old enemies take Sharpe’s woman and child hostage.
14. Sharpe’s Battle – Quartered in a crumbling Portuguese fort, Richard Sharpe and his men are attacked by an elite French unit, led by an old enemy of Sharpe’s, and suffer heavy losses. The army’s high command blame Sharpe for the disaster and his military career seems to be ruined. His only hope is to redeem himself on the battlefield.
15. Sharpe’s Tiger – Richard Sharpe. Soldier, hero, rogue-the man you always want on your side. Born in poverty, he joined the army to escape jail and climbed the ranks by sheer brutal courage. He knows no other family than the regiment of the 95th Rifles, whose green jacket he proudly wears.
16. Sharpe’s Triumph – Richard Sharpe. Soldier, hero, rogue-the man you always want on your side. Born in poverty, he joined the army to escape jail and climbed the ranks by sheer brutal courage. He knows no other family than the regiment of the 95th Rifles, whose green jacket he proudly wears.

17. Sharpe’s Fortress – It was the most impregnable fortress in all India – Gawlighur – and the opposing forces were safely holding it. But Sharpe, newly appointed an officer by Wellesley, has his own enemies to fight on every hand. The officers in his new regiment resent his arrival, Obadiah Hakeswill is determined to have his revenge, and renegades within the British army want to retain control of their own area…
18. Sharpe’s Skirmish (short story) – It is the summer of 1812 and Richard Sharpe, newly recovered from the wound he received in the fighting at Salamanca, is given an easy duty; to guard a Commissary Officer posted to an obscure Spanish fort where there are some captured French muskets to repair. But unknown to the British, the French are planning a lightning raid across the River Tormes, and they reckon the obscure Spanish fort, which guards an ancient bridge across the river, will be lightly guarded.
19. Sharpe’s Trafalgar – Richard Sharpe, traveling home aboard the ‘Revenant’, meets Admiral Nelson and his fleet, on what was a calm October day off Cape Trafalgar.
20. Sharpe’s Prey – Richard Sharpe is sent to Copenhagen to deliver a bribe to stop the Danes handing over possession of their battle fleet to the French. It seems very easy. But nothing is easy in a Europe stirred by French ambitions. The Danes possess a battle fleet that could replace every ship the French lost at Trafalgar, and Napoleon’s forces are gathering to take it. The British have to stop them, while the Danes insist on remaining neutral.

21. Sharpe’s Havoc – Sharpe is stranded behind enemy lines, but he has Patrick Harper, his riflemen and he has the assistance of a young, idealistic Portuguese officer. When he is joined by the future Duke of Wellington they immediately mount a counter-attack and Sharpe, having been the hunted, becomes the hunter once more. Amidst the wreckage of a defeated army, in the storm lashed hills of the Portuguese frontier, Sharpe takes his revenge.
22. Sharpe’s Escape – Sharpe’s job as Captain of the Light Company is under threat and he has made a new enemy, a Portuguese criminal known as Ferragus. Discarded by his regiment, Sharpe wages a private war against Ferragus – a war fought through the burning, pillaged streets of Coimbra, Portugal’s ancient university city.
23. Sharpe’s Fury – In the winter of 1811, the war seems lost. Spain has fallen to the French, except for Cadiz, now the Spanish capital and itself under siege. Inside the city walls an intricate diplomatic dance is taking place and Richard Sharpe faces more than one enemy.
24. Sharpe’s Assassin – The dust still settling after the Battle of Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington needs a favor and turns to Sharpe. For Wellington knows that the end of one war is only the beginning of another. Napoleon’s army may be defeated, but another enemy lies waiting in the shadows – a secretive group of fanatical revolutionaries hell-bent on revenge. Sharpe is dispatched to a new battleground: the maze of Paris streets where lines blur between friend and foe. And in search of a spy, he will have to defeat a lethal assassin determined to kill his target or die trying…

25. Sharpe’s Command – For the quiet, remote village, sitting high above the Almaraz bridge, is about to become the centre of a battle for the future of Europe. Two French armies march towards the bridge, one from the North and one from the South. If they meet, the British are lost. Only Sharpe’s small group of men – with their cunning and courage to rely on – stand in their way. But they’re rapidly outnumbered, enemies are hiding in plain sight, and as the French march ever closer to the frontline, time is running out…

Reading the Sharpe Books in Chronological Order

1. Sharpe’s Tiger
2. Sharpe’s Triumph
3. Sharpe’s Fortress
4. Sharpe’s Trafalgar
5. Sharpe’s Prey
6. Sharpe’s Rifles
7. Sharpe’s Havoc
8. Sharpe’s Eagle
9. Sharpe’s Gold
10. Sharpe’s Escape
11. Sharpe’s Fury
12. Sharpe’s Battle
13. Sharpe’s Company
14. Sharpe’s Command
15. Sharpe’s Sword
16. Sharpe’s Skirmish (short story)
17. Sharpe’s Enemy
18. Sharpe’s Honor
19. Sharpe’s Regiment
20. Sharpe’s Christmas (short story)
21. Sharpe’s Siege
22. Sharpe’s Revenge
23. Sharpe’s Waterloo
24. Sharpe’s Assassin
25. Sharpe’s Ransom (short story)
26. Sharpe’s Devil

What To Read If You Like The Sarpe Book Series?

If you want to read another series written by Bernard Cornwell, you can take a look at The Saxon Stories series (aka The Last Kingdom).